Greatest achievement: Being a good aunt and having great relationships with my two nieces and four nephews. They are so cool!

Greatest disappointment: Not yet figuring out how to have it all

Fantasy job: Photographer for a travel publication

Executive you most admire: Ben Sutton

Business advice: Each day, you are in control of three things: 1. How hard you work; 2. Your attitude; and 3. How well you take care of yourself.

What
made a homegrown Michigan girl leave a pretty decent gig with the Detroit
Pistons for a job she knew little about with North Carolina-based ISP Sports?

Janeen LalikISP Sports

“Maybe I
got the call from ISP in January,” Janeen Lalik said with a laugh, digging
through her memory files from 12 years ago. “I know the weather is a lot nicer
in North Carolina.”

When
Lalik arrived at Ben Sutton’s agency in 1997, five-year-old ISP Sports had
three university clients. Now the company has expanded to 50 university
partners, ranging from college giants like Notre Dame and Georgia to smaller
schools like Appalachian State and Elon.

As ISP’s
senior vice president of new business development, Lalik has been at the center
of that growth, bringing home new deals while also searching for the next one.

“She’s
become one of the most important people in the business of college sports,”
Sutton said. “Her efforts have been instrumental in our company moving from a
regional player to the leader in the intercollegiate multimedia rights
segment.”

The
biggest shift from the time Lalik entered the business 12 years ago to today is
the competitive side.

“Many
schools back then managed their rights in-house and you didn’t really see
schools switching from one rights holder to another,” she said. “Now you see
most of the schools relying on an outsource partner and getting more and more
comfortable with that.”